It’s been seven years since the Champions Tour has ventured north of the border but they are back and in a big way.
The Champions Tour Montreal Championship officially kicks off tournament rounds on Friday at Club de Golf Le Fountainebleau in Blainville, Quebec and golf fans couldn’t ask for better circumstances. On top of being hosted by a quality Darrell Huxham/Graham Cooke design, the field for the inaugural Montreal Championship is nothing short of spectacular.
With the exception of Tom Watson, just about every significant Champions Tour player has made the trek to Canada. That includes 23 of the top 30 players from the current Charles Schwab Cup points’ standings. Among the recognizable names are Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Craig Stadler, Mark Calcavecchia, Peter Jacobsen, Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman, Wayne Levi and last week’s Dicks Sporting Goods Open winner, Loren Roberts.
“I’m excited to be here,” Roberts told Flagstick Wednesday morning. “It’s a little cooler right now than I am used to but I hear it is warming up which should be good,” he mentioned as the temperatures hovered just over 55 degrees and the wind was up. A warm front is expected to push temperatures over the 90 mark by the time the tournament concludes on Sunday.
It’s safe to say that some of the best senior-aged players are in Canada this week and the local golf fans plan to embrace them in a big way. While many of their eyes will be on fan favourite Fred Couples, who has already won three Champions Tour events in 2010, a lot of attention will also be given to Corey Pavin, especially after his playoff loss on the PGA Tour last week.
“It’s great to be back in Canada; to be back in Montreal,” Pavin said Wednesday. “It’s always nice to have a new event and in a new place. Montreal is great city; it’s a beautiful city. People seem to be excited to have us and we’re excited to be here.”
The Montreal Championship is one of three new events on the Champions Tour this year. It joins the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, won earlier this year by David Eger, and the tour’s first official event to be played in Asia, the New Songdo City Championship set for early September in South Korea.
While this event is new, the PGA Tour has a long history in the province of Quebec. The Canadian Open has been played in the Montreal area 19 times, most recently in 2001 at Royal Montreal GC. At the same club a team from the United States defeated the European squad in the 2007 Presidents Cup matches. The Champions Tour’s only other visit to the province occurred in 1999 for what was then the AT&T Senior Open Championship. It was hosted by the Richelieu Valley Golf Club in Sainte-Julie, Quebec.
The purse this week is $1,800,000 with the winner earning $270,000. The Golf Channel will be providing tape-delayed coverage.
This report provided to GolfWRX.com by Flagstick Golf Magazine (www.flagstick.com)
